The processors; the A-series seen in iOS devices, are designed by Apple but built by Samsung overseas and here in the U.S.

"Samsung Electronics recently asked Apple for a significant price raise in (the mobile processor known as) application processor," reads the report. "Apple first disapproved it, but finding no replacement supplier, it accepted the (increase.)"

Apple currently buys all of its A-series processors from Samsung, and purchased 130 million units last year. That number is expected to jump to almost 200 million this year meaning the price hike will see significant money change hands.

Samsung has a long-standing contract to supply the processors until 2014.

8 user comments

Apple talking about moving to another chip manufacturer raises the risk of chip production business of Apple chips for Samsung. That has a direct impact on the price. The price Apple was paying for the chips before was most likely calculated by Samsung for the scenario where Apple keeps buying their chips from Samsung even after 2014.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 12 Nov 2012 @ 10:28

First Samsung stops producing Apple's screens and now their chips too? This is lose-lose for apple and samsung, guess apple should blame their legal teams for going nuts in countries all over the world in patent wars.

There's some kind of justice that Apple are paying themselves damages in a way. All it needs is for them to raise the price of the i* and the consumers to not wanna pay and buy cheaper and better Samsung devices. Then Apple will be left with millions of units of unwanted shit.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 16 Nov 2012 @ 9:02

It's sure a lose lose situation. Apple is to blame for the most part. They bully everyone with their f**king lawyers. They have such a head start that they don't need to waste money on lawyers. Look at their market share of smartphones and tablets. Apple supporters lost all fairness in their minds. How did they conclude Samsung "steal" from Apple? Copy is not stealing. Stealing is taking the program source code. Did Samsung do that? What research and investment went into "Pinch Zoom", "Swipe to lock/unlock", "Universal Search". They are ideas that cost zero dollar and 1 sec to come up. It's a joke these things along with rectangle with round corners turn into patents. Did Apple gain anything from suing Samsung? They helped Samsung sell more phones and tablets. They got people to look and some people found a comparable product that suit them better. Apple, stop being a nuisance and truly compete. I'm seeing Samsung have a whole lot more useful functions and features (Smart Stay, Smart Rotate, Voice controlled picture taking, S-Beam) that don't exist on the iPhone. How's that for not copying? Apple, good luck with screwing with your supply chain and suing others.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 16 Nov 2012 @ 16:22

Originally posted by SmaryJerry: First Samsung stops producing Apple's screens and now their chips too? This is lose-lose for apple and samsung, guess apple should blame their legal teams for going nuts in countries all over the world in patent wars.

Not so much. Sammy can pretty much fill it's entire production with it's own orders, both in chips and screens. Their volume is significantly picking up and Android is completely eating Apple's lunch.

And now Gartner is predicting Android is going to overtake Windows in 2-3 years.

Now you see why Apple is so sue happy. They're out of ideas, don't have the ability to support their stock price, and are lashing out in fear and desperation to try to slow their slide. With purchased American judges and juries this is the only place they can win their ridiculous suits. But they're calling attention to their weakness, and stronger competitors with better products are winning. With a crippled and crashing world economy Apple won't be able to sell their inferior product at such inflated prices for much longer, and we're already seeing them suffer.

Originally posted by SmaryJerry: First Samsung stops producing Apple's screens and now their chips too? This is lose-lose for apple and samsung, guess apple should blame their legal teams for going nuts in countries all over the world in patent wars.

Not so much. Sammy can pretty much fill it's entire production with it's own orders, both in chips and screens. Their volume is significantly picking up and Android is completely eating Apple's lunch.

And now Gartner is predicting Android is going to overtake Windows in 2-3 years.

Now you see why Apple is so sue happy. They're out of ideas, don't have the ability to support their stock price, and are lashing out in fear and desperation to try to slow their slide. With purchased American judges and juries this is the only place they can win their ridiculous suits. But they're calling attention to their weakness, and stronger competitors with better products are winning. With a crippled and crashing world economy Apple won't be able to sell their inferior product at such inflated prices for much longer, and we're already seeing them suffer.

YES LOOK WHAT HAPPEN TO SONY WITH THEIR INFERIOR PRODUCT AND BIG INFLATED PRICES,GONE....